Brussels meeting focuses on Kashmiri women

Shamila Mahmood, Azad Kashmir’s first woman judge and Qazia, highlighted her concern about the policy of water management vis-a-vis the Himalayan rivers.

“In IOK, implementation of policy and planning is embedded in a militarised context, and in AJK we will soon be confronted with its environmental consequences and how it will affect the people of Kashmir living in the areas concerned,” she said.

Despite the Indus Water Treaty, she pointed out that “India creates dams and that creation of dams by India is not agreed on the treaty: that makes the Kishenganga Hydropower project (to divert water of the Neelum River/Ganga River to Wullar Lake to generate electricity) highly controversial”.

She said the consequences would be ‘dramatic’ for the people in Neelum Valley.“The river will get dry, no water will be available for the people and that will trigger massive migration. Where will people go?” she asked.